Is Marijuana Healthy for You?
As you know, Marijuana or Cannabis is illegal drug in the US with medical properties that have made the subject of much recent research. With over 69 million Americans over the age of 12 who have tried Marijuana, it is by far the most commonly used illegal drug in the United States.
Did you know that:
- Marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals, including most of the harmful substances found in tobacco smoke. Smoking one marijuana cigarette deposits about four times more tar into the lungs than a filtered tobacco cigarette. (Drug Enforcement Administration)
- Risk of a heart attack is five times higher than usual in the hour after smoking marijuana. (Harvard University, Marijuana & Heart Attacks, Washington Post, 3/3/2000)
- Reaction time for motor skills, such as driving, is reduced by 41% after smoking one joint and is reduced 63% after smoking two joints.
Still, there is substantial belief that Marijuana is harmless or that it is valuable as a therapeutic drug for cancer, AIDS, or depression. There is some evidence that a synthetic cannabinoid derived from THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) named Dronabinol, can help with Alzheimer in the elderly. The most common reason for a “legal prescription” of Marijuana (the so-called medical marijuana legal in California) is to relieve pain.
Reuters today reported on a story that will make you cringe, though. Heavy marijuana use shrinks brain talks about a study published in the American Medical Association’s journal Archives of General Psychiatry by two Australian researchers looking at men who had smoked at least five joints a day for 20 years. Brain scans indicated their hippocampus and amygdala were smaller compared to nonusers:
The hippocampus regulates memory and emotion, while the amygdala plays a critical role in fear and aggression.
“These findings challenge the widespread perception of cannabis as having limited or no harmful effects on (the) brain and behavior,” said Murat Yucel of ORYGEN Research Centre and the University of Melbourne, who led the study. “Like with most things, some people will experience greater problems associated with cannabis use than others,” Yucel said in an e-mail. “Our findings suggest that everyone is vulnerable to potential changes in the brain, some memory problems and psychiatric symptoms if they use heavily enough and for long enough.”
Among the 15 heavy marijuana users in the study, the hippocampus volume was 12 percent less and the amygdala volume was 7 percent less than in 16 men who were not marijuana users, the researchers said.
Criticism of the study centers around the fact that these men are extremely heavy users; had they been smokers or alcoholics, the effects would certainly have been more pronounced. Note that I am not a medical doctor, and this cannot constitute medical advice, but my opinion on Marijuana would be to generally avoid it. It’s clear that it’s harmless in moderation and small amounts, but over time it seems as if it can have profound effects, dumbing down your brain and numbing your nervous system. What do you think? Is there a cost, and is it worth it?
| This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 9:07 pm and is tagged with drug enforcement administration, marijuana cigarette, american medical association, tobacco cigarette, archives of general psychiatry, smoking marijuana, orygen, medical marijuana, delta 9, harvard university, medical properties, dronabinol, australian researchers, tobacco smoke, therapeutic drug, yucel, cannabinoid, washington post, harmful substances, amygdala. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback. |
33 Responses to “Is Marijuana Healthy for You?”
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Hey–
Interesting and well researched post. Just one comment regarding some of your opening stats.
Yes, smoking one marijuana “joint” is four times as cancerous as a tobaccp “joint”, but you have to look at the volume and habit of the marijuana in use.
More often than not, well more than the average, a joint has less marijuana in it than tobacco in a cigarette. Thus, even if a person were to smoke an entire joint themselves, they wouldn’t be putting substances equal to “four cancerous cigarettes” in them.
Furthermore, most joints are passed around between two or more people (however, lets not kid ourselves as we all know individuals are capable of great things…. depending on how you define great). This splits that equation up even less — most people don’t finish a joint (which we already decided on average is smaller than a cigarette) but what do you do with cigarettes? you *chain* smoke. Even you smoke a joint (or two) in a day, most people that smoke go through more than double that in a day.
Most people stop after minimal amounts of marijuana, but that is not the case with tobacco.
Something to consider.
Yeah. You’re right Matt, and well thought out. But what was that the D.E.A. claimed again? A single marijuana joint contains more tar than four cigs? I don’t think that’s even true at all. One of those ******* drug scare tactics.
As we may or may not have learned in school the “tar” that is in cigarettes is an additive. As well as all of the other bullshit cigarette companies get away with selling legally. The goverment will let people smoke rat poisioning, nicotine, ammonia, bat feces, TAR, and all kinds of fucked up chemicals. Most street dealers who homegrow it don’t add anything in their product because the plant gives the consumer the effect they want, without poisonous additives that our moms clean with.
Like matt said in the first place marijuana is passed around amongst several people. Like alcohol, or even illegal psychoactives such as ecstasy, it’s mostly a social drug.
Whenever anyone reads a research report on marijuana they always see the negative results of people who are super heavy users of marijuana. But like with any and everything, something we used or do in the excess can be harmful. Yet strangely enough most researchers fail to mention that in their reported claim about marijuana. And if they do, the person reading the report automatically classifies anyone who smokes marijuana a heavy user.
And again refering to Matt’s well thought out argument, most people smoke a small amount of marijuana. Just enough to feel the euphoric high it gives the consumer. As for a cigarette, the head rush tobacco gives is gone quicker than the cigarette is, so they smoke multiple amounts to keep that relaxing feeling going.
So a person actually may end up smoking more than one cigarette, this is not the case for marijuana.
Think about it….
KYeah. You’re right Matt, and well thought out. But what was that the D.E.A. claimed again? A single marijuana joint contains more tar than four cigs? I don’t think that’s even true at all. One of those ******* drug scare tactics.
As we may or may not have learned in school the “tar” that is in cigarettes is an additive. As well as all of the other bullshit cigarette companies get away with selling legally. The goverment will let people smoke rat poisioning, nicotine, ammonia, bat feces, TAR, and all kinds of fucked up chemicals. Most street dealers who homegrow it don’t add anything in their product because the plant gives the consumer the effect they want, without poisonous additives that our moms clean with.
Like matt said in the first place marijuana is passed around amongst several people. Like alcohol, or even illegal psychoactives such as ecstasy, it’s mostly a social drug.
Whenever anyone reads a research report on marijuana they always see the negative results of people who are super heavy users of marijuana. But like with any and everything, something we used or do in the excess can be harmful. Yet strangely enough most researchers fail to mention that in their reported claim about marijuana. And if they do, the person reading the report automatically classifies anyone who smokes marijuana a heavy user.
And again refering to Matt’s well thought out argument, most people smoke a small amount of marijuana. Just enough to feel the euphoric high it gives the consumer. As for a cigarette, the head rush tobacco gives is gone quicker than the cigarette is, so they smoke multiple amounts to keep that relaxing feeling going.
So a person actually may end up smoking more than one cigarette, this is not the case for marijuana.
Think about it….
Yeah. You’re right Matt, and well thought out. But what was that the D.E.A. claimed again? A single marijuana joint contains more tar than four cigs? I don’t think that’s even true at all. One of those ******* drug scare tactics.
As we may or may not have learned in school the “tar” that is in cigarettes is an additive. As well as all of the other bullshit cigarette companies get away with selling legally. The goverment will let people smoke rat poisioning, nicotine, ammonia, bat feces, TAR, and all kinds of fucked up chemicals. Most street dealers who homegrow it don’t add anything in their product because the plant gives the consumer the effect they want, without poisonous additives that our moms clean with.
Like matt said in the first place marijuana is passed around amongst several people. Like alcohol, or even illegal psychoactives such as ecstasy, it’s mostly a social drug.
Whenever anyone reads a research report on marijuana they always see the negative results of people who are super heavy users of marijuana. But like with any and everything, something we used or do in the excess can be harmful. Yet strangely enough most researchers fail to mention that in their reported claim about marijuana. And if they do, the person reading the report automatically classifies anyone who smokes marijuana a heavy user.
And again refering to Matt’s well thought out argument, most people smoke a small amount of marijuana. Just enough to feel the euphoric high it gives the consumer. As for a cigarette, the head rush tobacco gives is gone quicker than the cigarette is, so they smoke multiple amounts to keep that relaxing feeling going.
So a person actually may end up smoking more than one cigarette, this is not the case for marijuana.
Think about it…
P.S. I was high as hell when I wrote this.
@Matt
Well said.
in Aceh ( a province in Indonesia ) marijuana used for food flavour , it make food more delicious and nothing happen with human, not make you drunk . because they used marijuana in small quantity for food flavour like you give pepper to your food
Marijuana smoke does contain 4 times more chemicals that can cause cancer then cigarettes, but it also contains THC and other cannaboids which slow down cancer growth unlike nicotine which premotes cancer growth. Weed may have more cancer causeing chemicals, but it doesnt cause more cancer then cigarettes do, as for marijuana shnking the brain, in a recent study it showed that a synthetic cannaboid, when administered to rats, acctually promoted brain growth and after long pirods of being haigh, the rats brains were growing 40% faster then normal. tests were done on people when they were high and whe they were sober, when a person was high, they scored higher on thier SATs, had a higher sperm count and scored higher on a memory test.
Its dangerous leaf to me. I will avoid that.
Lol Its not the leaves thats smoked man.
I’ve been smoking weed for about 3 years. The amount is probably a blunt a day. I have never had any problems with my emotions. My grades have also stayed pretty high at A- average. So i think that smoking weed everyday varies between each person. Note that I am only 16 years old.
i just wanted to know about the dangers of weed, because me and ma boy finish a bankie a day
weed isnt dangerous listen i smoke atleast 5 to 6 Ls a day and i love every second of it im a collegiate athlete and it doesnt slow me down like those damn cigarettes do, quit cigarettes and open up as ****** company that sells weed in cigg packs that would single handedly be the greatest thing all time
Thank you for this information. Some people very close to me think that it is healthy and a herb but now I can prove them wornge.
Thank you again.
This information is wrong. Many scientists have actually found marijuana to be helpful with ADHD and ADD in teens. and weed has chemicals that slow down cancerous cells.
OK how about this thought =
“EVERYTHING DONE TOO MUCH CAN CAUSE SEVERE PROBLEMS”…
everyone agrees water is gud for you… BUT try taking like 5-10 litters a day I can guarantee ull overload ur heart, piss away ur nutrients… and u can have gud chance u can go blind coz of the tiny capilliaries in ur eyes cannot hold the water volume..
got it?
now the question… moderate use is near to harmless… now the question is:
Smoking marijuana is fun… am I willing to pay the price of little danger it can POTENTIALLY do if used sparingl?
answers: HELL YEAH!!! WEED HIGH IS A MIND TRIP!!! It makes u happy, boost ur creativity and gives u perception on things….
Last Note: George Carlin was one of the best stand up comedian / philosopher of our age… and he advocates it coz it gives u different perspective on things and opens ur mind!.. Rest in peace George, you'll be missed…
Do we still ask ourselves this kind of questions? Do we need scientific researches to tell us that smoke in our lungs is bad? I think this is a sign of ignorance. Yes, marijuana is bad for health, I know this for a fact because I tried it in the past. I didn't had to check into drug rehab centers to stop using the drug, I just stopped because I felt it does no good.
Ya know weed isnt really that harmful. You just smoked some dirt weed and got turned away from it. But other than that i doubt you’ve ever even been high because the euphoria weed gives you is unforgettable.
Cannabis is one of the medicines in the world. Well, using any thing excessively is harmful. Cannabis stimulates the spiritual mind of a person where as alcohol diminishes it. And creativeness is more prominent with canabis than other slimulants.
I have been a musicion for more than two decades, I met musicians using smoke and alcohol. But cannabis is very much towards creativity
I have been a marijuana fan, a medical doctor practising medicine, critical medicine for more than 15 years… I have never encountered any obstacle using this. And on top of that, I can just wait for months and years till I get the best stuff, not those business market, just from the bushes. So I feel the physical dependance for cannabis is minimal in comparison to Tea, Coffee, Cigerretes, Alcohol, hatred, anger, and the rubish human mind develop. It sobers your mind and make you steady and aware. Wonderful nature's medicine. You may see during the spring the spiritual meditators in Himalayas get down towards the delta to collect good grass.
One thing is for sure….it's bad for fertility, especially man. It can cause your sperm oxydate.
Marijauna is a very safe drug, it is a natural substane that can be passed through the body. Ive past test on Marujauna, as well as right music and books. marijauna has given me ambitous thoughts about persuing my career in acting, its has also made focus more when i drive by not passin the speed limit just because it seems too fast. whomever wrote this article is a liar and should be ashamed. I love weed and I will continue to smoke it for the rest of my natural life. Those who choose to smoke for the first time make its with someone who has done it before, and also make sure its not too much, but just enough so that you can relax and listen to you're most favorite songs. Marijuana changed my life!
if my partner smokes weed and i dont but become pregnant, will this sperm cause my child to have a disorder?
no…..if that were true over 70% of the people on this earth would all have disorders.
All this is very true, but I understand there are certain medical cases where marijuana is one of the few solutions to help ease pain and we shouldn’t deny legal marijuana to these people. But for everyone using the drug to simply get high our only hope is to improve education so that future generations will not succumb to this unhealthy lifestyle. The war on drugs will ultimately never be won; it is just costing endless money and resources with no results, so better education is our only hope.
weed is the best..it saved my education..before i smoked weed i would fall asleep in class all the time. However since last year, i been smoking bud before class and the results has been excellent. yeah you smoke weed to get a lil buzz in class, makes everything the lecturer says would sound amazing and u pay attention way more. But of course if you get way too smashed then just go home haha.
Hell yeah! Right there with you man!
i have been smoking weed for the past 4 years, i have been expelled from school, my parents have disowned me and i moved out. i still smoke everyday knowing that one of many Gods gifts to earth is marajuana, it is grown naturally and pure, AK-47, Bubblegum cush, northern lights, stenzy star, purple haze, white widow, it is all the gifts from above. alcohol is man made and kills brain cells, marajuana only damages brain cells, but what people dont know, damaged brain cells can be repaired. weed for life
Smoking weed once a week has helped me mentaly and emotionaly. I have more fun when I smoke and it also gets me to mentaly face problems that I run away from. I was also addicted to video games but after I smoke i feel more calm and can just relax rather than always having to do something.
One prob I have is sometimes im too relaxed in the few days following but i still exercise quite a bit and while anything in exces is bad for you weed, which is a plant, is probably no where near as bad for you as 99% of the chemicals people put in their body everyday legaly, even if the strong effects of THC may seem like weed is a lot worse for you it probably isnt and this whole article seems like fear mongering rather than anything legit
Seno is one smart stoner. If he really wrote that high then he should be a lawyer cuz he sure convinced me that weed isnt that bad. I love smokin and always will. Legalize the herb Obama
i agree wit everyone
i think it should be legal since cigerattes are legal
i have just started using weed for constipation, i cook it up like tea and it seems to help for my stomac this stuf is great.
Using cannabis cannot give you cance. In fact it is a valuable treatment. Youtube – RUN FROM THE CURE